California Tacos & More — Restaurant in Omaha

Really fun place to go hang out with friends, especially during their happy hour with discounts on several items; nachos, burritos, margaritas, and their specialty deep fried tacos (used to be half off, inflation has them at 33% off now). My friend and I were going to get nachos, but we both opted for getting a cup of guacamole and a basket of fresh tortilla chips, in a mix of their flour and corn chips. It's nice to have the contrast between the two; the extra crispness of the corn chips offset by the volume and increased density and mouthfeel of the flour tortilla chips.

The guacamole was divine. It was actually delicious; high praise from someone who thoroughly loves really delicious guacamole. With the simplicity of the few ingredients generally involved, it's kind of amazing that so many places can find so many ways to get it wrong. And often only in tiny portions, but still crazy overpriced, so it's thoroughly disappointing all the way around. So this was quite refreshing that it was so far in the opposite direction. It tasted wonderful, and they actually give you a decent amount of it, and was then accompanied by a hefty basket of your choice of corn and/or flour tortilla chips. We would both recommend getting the mixed bowl of both flour and corn tortilla chips, or solely the flour variety.

What I especially love about coming here is that they have a whole range of things separately placed out on a little chilled condiment bar where you can get just the right amounts of what you need. Chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapeños, lettuce, black olives, two different kinds of salsa in blending dispensers on the wall; it's really fun. All the things you would normally get on top of nachos for example, but probably helps them save time in trying to specify minute details with everyone's differing orders. It could even be potentially a really good way to reduce the amount of food waste with restaurants, when you see so many people leaving behind certain items on their plate. When you consider the amount of widespread hunger and food insecurity, this is a really big issue, and especially good to address it from the restaurant side of things.

With the frequency of blender-made salsa in restaurants, the items on the condiment bar are especially appreciated, so you can still sprinkle on extra accoutrements for additional texture. Also nice that when you're looking for salsa, you can get the amount you want, not like some places which only have it pre-measured out in tiny unsatisfying little cups.

Interestingly, their salsa is actually up on the wall in something akin to drink dispensers, where it's constantly being stirred up, so you don't wind up getting just watery leftovers. And instead of excessive blandness common in so many places in the Midwest, it actually has a nice amount of kick to it.

My friend had just had her baby, and he was a perfect little angel the entire time. The other three of us were having a blast holding him and just being amazed at how perfect and beautiful he is. This is a fun place and it's actually set up really well so that even when there are quite a few people, you don't feel overwhelmed or overly crowded, or blasted with too much noise. There's actually a segment on Food Network that you can watch about the place, their history, and their specific style of making deep fried tacos. Good stuff, fun place. Definitely recommend the guacamole with a basket of flour...

We were excited to try this place after reading the reviews and watching the clips from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. A local dive, the bathroom door doesn’t even lock (at least it has a sign that says so.) We mentioned this was our first time visit at the counter. It was met with an unfriendly scowl and an I-don’t have time for small-talk personality. We were given a number for our order and turned to find a table. They had just come down from a rush, so we waited for a table to be cleared. Scowl-lady cleared the table of the dishes but didn’t wipe it down, leaving us to find some napkins to wipe it down ourselves. She did return MANY minutes later to wipe it down. It’s not like she didn’t know there was nowhere else (appropriate for a couple) to sit that was clean. Maybe we just should have sat down at one of the huge group tables instead? The food was just good but not amazing. We each ordered a Cali Taco, and we shared a Nachos with mixed chips. Our favorite was the Nachos. We wish we had been told the difference between the two chips at the counter. You would think it would have been mentioned to us since we informed the staff it was our first visit. The flour chips were the homemade version. Had we been informed; we would have opted for just the flour chips and not the mixed version. The tacos were good but nothing to write home about. The shells are unique – sort of a cross between Indian fry bread and schnitzel or strudel. This was our first official stop of our mini vacation. We were in tourist mode, happy and excited to try something new when we walked in. The ‘service’ left a bad taste – no matter how good the food is – it was soured by the experience. The owner came in with a bank bag and was met at the counter by our staff person. My husband overheard her asking the owner for more hours. We should have mentioned to him what a letdown our interaction was. We took a 20-minute detour out of our way for a meal here. Would we try it again, yes. Would we drive out of our way to do so – no. There are too many other establishments to try.

Not worth the hype...

I visited the restaurant as a delivery person. They were a bit under prepared for delivery being offered for them it seems. The menu published online for my customer had items that they no longer make. They also don't a good deal of time figuring out if they had other items available. I had to refund multiple items, which also drops my pay.

The sauce station was so messy that I cleaned it up for them while I waited for the food. One young lady asked me if I got everything while I was doing this cleaning; I remarked that I got all the sauce I needed (though truth be told, they had multiple effectively empty bottles of green salsa sitting in an ice vat, nozzle down. I used the one not in the "soup" but I found it odd). I then proceeded to sit at the bar with my delivery bag.

I found it interesting that not only did they complete my order and fail to give it to me in a timely manner, but also left me during at the bar alone with no drink and no food and no companion to make it seem reasonable. I basically looked like a customer being ignored while the dinner rush boomed. It makes me wonder if they ever really attend to people at the bar... Two individuals say down the way from me there, and my whole visit, I didn't see them checked on either.

I got the impression that everyone is exhausted. I hope that it's because everything is so good that you were very busy all day. Seriously, I wanted to ask if they needed help managing the queue of people and keeping the orders straight with the fridge stocked with appropriate items, while also making sure the online resources were accurate. Seeing the tired people and hearing the guys bickering in the kitchen concerns me... But I really want to personally try their food so I'm hoping to go with my partner and then get to update with "it's so worth it!" Comments.

I guess my point here is... Since Google asked for it... They appear to be very busy all the time and miss the mark on a few customer service points but I have a feeling it's because they're offers are just that good. We shall see how I feel...